Cheap mic for professional use?

manveruppd · 6 Mar 2010 at 19:57

Got a nice little Vivanco EM-216 mic that does the job, but I would like something better. This cost ~£30 back when it was new (no idea what it would cost now). Is it possible to get something that'll sound reasonably decent, enough to put on a demo disc? Main use is for me to make live recordings (mostly of acoustic instruments) on my MD player and for my gf to use with Logic on her mac.

Natima · 6 Mar 2010 at 20:05

Shure SM57... That is all.

SexyGreyFox · 6 Mar 2010 at 20:25

For vocals you need a SM58 and for instruments a SM57 which are basically industry standard.
I've got about 5 of each.
I've also used Electrovoice CO9s which aren't too bad.

manveruppd · 6 Mar 2010 at 20:59

Thanks for the advice, that seems to be just what I'm looking for!

Mics are pretty durable aren't they? It'll be okay if I skimp and buy a used one off the bay, won't it?

SexyGreyFox · 7 Mar 2010 at 00:59

manveruppd said:
Thanks for the advice, that seems to be just what I'm looking for!

Mics are pretty durable aren't they? It'll be okay if I skimp and buy a used one off the bay, won't it?

be careful on ebay because there are loads of cheap copies

manveruppd · 7 Mar 2010 at 11:07

Allright, I think I'll go for a new one to play it safe in that case, thanks for the help!

Maccy · 7 Mar 2010 at 12:29

That man dmpoole. He offers you good advice.

Natima · 7 Mar 2010 at 14:55

Yeah those things'll last for decades if taken care of. No need to worry about durability.

Maccy · 7 Mar 2010 at 16:12

They don't even need that much care in all honesty, old Roger was swinging the 58 around by the cord when on stage with The Who and it just kept
on going!

SexyGreyFox · 7 Mar 2010 at 16:50

Maccy said:
They don't even need that much care in all honesty, old Roger was swinging the 58 around by the cord when on stage with The Who and it just kept
on going!

How do you know he used the same one every night

I accidentally knocked my mic stand over on friday and the SM58 went crashing into the monitor.
It put a great big dent in it so I unscrewed the top, got a flat screwdriver and put it back into shape.

Logsi · 7 Mar 2010 at 16:52

SM58's are rock hard. Great for live use but there is better mics for studio use.

SexyGreyFox · 7 Mar 2010 at 16:56

Logsi said:
SM58's are rock hard. Great for live use but there is better mics for studio use.

I use a SE2000 condensor in the studio

manveruppd · 7 Mar 2010 at 18:02

Hmm... the SE2000s are actually a bit cheaper! And I didn't realize the SM58 was a dynamic mic, I would actually prefer a condenser mic. Think I'll go for an SE2000 instead. This is primarily for plugging into a Macbook so it'll primarily be used for picking up unamplified sounds for manipulation in Logic (and probably mostly vocals, as everything else can be made using MIDI). If it's directional that's a bonus, so we can point it away from the Macbook and avoid the fan noise

I plan to also use it to record stuff on my HiMD, but again, it'll be unamplified sounds, so a condenser would be better.

simisker · 7 Mar 2010 at 21:50

manveruppd said:
[...]so a condenser would be better.

Bear in mind that condenser mics need some form of power, so you'd either need an additional preamp between mic and mac that gives +48V phantom power, or you'd need to use a condenser mic that is powered by an internal battery [which decimates your choices].

I'd have recommended the [dynamic] Sennheiser MD421 Mk II as an all-round instrument+vocal workhorse, though it is a few hundred quid. Great mics, though

-|ScottFree|- · 8 Mar 2010 at 05:19

I have an SM7B... the mic Jacko used for Thriller and Off the Wall!!! Good for vocals and instruments mic'ing
Rode NT1 A..good for vocals!!
SM57... instrument mic'ing
SM58..both!!

Maccy · 8 Mar 2010 at 10:24

dmpoole said:
How do you know he used the same one every night

When did I say that?

manveruppd · 8 Mar 2010 at 17:45

simisker said:
Bear in mind that condenser mics need some form of power, so you'd either need an additional preamp between mic and mac that gives +48V phantom power, or you'd need to use a condenser mic that is powered by an internal battery [which decimates your choices].

I'd have recommended the [dynamic] Sennheiser MD421 Mk II as an all-round instrument+vocal workhorse, though it is a few hundred quid. Great mics, though

Battery is good enough for me!

m3csl2004 · 8 Mar 2010 at 18:27

I have a Rode M3 which I love.

Dr.EM · 8 Mar 2010 at 20:21

I wouldn't reccomend plugging any mic directly into a laptop anyhow. If you connect to the line input, the mic will not produce enough level to give a reasonably low noise level. Connected to the mic input, well, if it's anything like the average PC mic input it'll only be suitable for speech in applications such as MSN, truly awful quality pre-amps built into PCs.

You'll be far better off with something like this for dynamic mics or battery powered condensor mics:

http://www.dv247.com/computer-hardware/lexicon-alpha-stereo-usb-audio-interface--36113

Or this for condensor mics requiring Phantom power

http://www.dv247.com/computer-hardware/m-audio-fast-track--68396

(hope is not competitor?)

Maccy · 8 Mar 2010 at 20:48

Well he didn't specifically mention an external device to plug into so I didn't take that into consideration.
That Lexicon will be truly awful though!